cuba plates

The Russian government is discussing the possibility of increasing supplies of Russian oil and oil products to Cuba. Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil would carry out the deliveries of oil and petroleum products and are reportedly working on contracts, but no prices have been discussed.

The development was reported by Russian business daily Vedomosti on Friday, citing a letter from the Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexey Gruzdev dated January 11.

Between 2010 and 2015, Russia delivered $11.3 million worth of oil products, according to Rosstat data. In 2016, Russia exported just shy of $1 million of oil and oil products.

Cuba’s oil supplies from neighboring Venezuela have been disrupted due to the political crisis. Venezuela is Cuba’s top energy supplier, but as the country teeters on an economic and humanitarian crisis, it has failed to keep up oil production. Reuters reported that in in the first half of 2016 Cuba received 40% fewer barrels of crude oil from PDVSA, Venezuela’s national oil company, than in the same six-month time period in 2015.

In September of last year, Prime Minister Raul Castro asked President Putin to increase oil supplies, but Russia wasn’t actively receptive of the idea due to its doubts about the small Caribbean island nation’s ability to pay up, RBC reported.

The two Cold War allies have collaborated on a number of strategic issues. In October 2015, Russia issued Cuba a $1.3 billion loan to build two nuclear power plant facilities. In 2014, Russia forgave more than $32 billion in Cuba’s Soviet-era debt.

“From our standpoint, the successful completion of negotiations on delivering Russia oil to Cuba will not only increase trade but also have a positive socio-political and humanitarian impact on Russian-Cuban relations,” Gruzdev is quoted by Vedomosti as saying.